Do you believe in the God of the Bible?

Great! Let’s go digging for gold. The Bible is full of priceless riches, and it even includes a treasure map. Still not satisfied? God has you covered. He sends His faithful servants to help us find the diamonds!

I’m going to keep you on tenterhooks for Part 2 of From “The butler!” to “The Universe!” Today’s post is about how to study the Bible. And how not to. Big disclaimer: This article is just going to scratch the surface. Many relevant verses will surely be left out. But we have to start somewhere! I’ll present some general principles first (Part 1), and then give specific examples (Part 2).

Actually, changed my mind! The Bible is such a vast repository of beautiful truths, bewildering mysteries, and timeless wisdom that I am not going to do a sequel to this post that tries to give examples of the bullets below. Instead, I changed the title to .0000001 to convey the incredible journey we are embarking on here. We’re going to flesh out these bullets slowly, over time, and we’ll never be completely done. Also, as I hopefully mature in the faith, I will need to retract some posts and provide more accurate explanations of the associated passages!

So, without further ado, here are some principles I have picked up along the way, that I think could be very useful for you in your studies:

• If you’ve ever been to church, you’ve probably heard this one, but I’m going to repeat it because it is true! Namely: Context is key!!!
• The Bible has easy passages and hard passages
  • There are many easy passages that vast numbers of Christians from different denominations actually agree on
  • Don’t let the presence of some hard passages deter you from appreciating, drawing comfort from, and applying the easy passages
  • Start with the easy ones, get very familiar with them, and work up to the hard passages
  • Beware of plain-meaningism (link at bottom), which treats all passages as easy passages
  • You will never figure out all the hard passages
• Some verses use dichotomous language as shorthand to describe something that actually operates on a continuum
• Like every other book, the Bible contains a mix of figurative and literal language
• Have faith that what looks like a contradiction will actually make sense if you study more, pray, talk to other Bible students, and God grants you light
  • Don’t be shy about your faith; remember, atheists have faith that life assembled itself somewere in the universe, a long time ago, without any intelligent agency whatsoever
• Think systematically
  • Do not give up on seemingly contradictory passages by simply saying “I believe both of them!”
• The Bible often bypasses the laborious specificity of a legal document or a textbook
  • Its phraseology is often more similar to our casual everyday speech than we realize
  • As a consequence, it has to be carefully analyzed to glean the actual intended meaning
• Always keep in mind your starting assumptions
  • This is a very old book
  • From a different time and culture
  • Inspired by the Supreme Being, who dwells in light unapproachable, Whose thoughts are not your thoughts, Whose ways are not your ways
  • So if there is something that confuses you, even if you never figure it out, don’t panic!
    • Relax
• Let the Bible interpret itself
  • Sometimes a confusing passage can be unlocked by reading a related passage somewhere else
  • This is one reason that memorizing as much as you can is a great idea
• Sometimes we introduce enormous complexity, ambiguity and inconsistency to the Bible simply because we are offended by the consistent, clear, actual meaning of the relevant passages
  • Put another way: the best way to understand the Bible is to believe it 🙂
• Read the Bible every day, first thing in the morning
  • You will progress faster in your understanding
  • Besides, you don’t want to start the day on an empty soul
• Seek input from godly ministers and other mature believers
• Pray
• Use the King James version

Happy digging!

Links:

Plain-meaningism